I'm struggling with this in my current living situation, mostly on my large tank (180g). In my last house I tied a washing machine hookup into the wet wall under the tank (hot/cold water; drain) and tied it into the filtration lines which made partial water changes very easy. That house now belongs to my Ex wife, and I'm currently in a rental apt, so no options for a nice plumbing solution.

I have several tanks and for the smaller ones I have been content to drag buckets back and forth to the bathroom, though I know I don't change the water as much as I should because of that. But with the larger tank not only would it take way to many trips (especially with what I am now learning about EI techniques and far larger H2O changes than I have been doing), but the canopy on top of the tank makes dumping them in problematic. The easiest way to get water in is to hook a hose to the sink, but that doesn't let me do any kind of treatment to the water as I'm adding it, and if I fill from the sump I'll likely kill off the bacteria in the bioballs if the untreated water gets too high.

I've thought to add a larger container to hold water (like a 55 gallon barrel), but since it would have to also sit in my living room I'm not as keen on that.

Are there some tricks/techniques anyone has come up with in such situations to quickly/easily replenish water in a large tank that allows for conditioning the incoming water?

Derek

Theres no reason that you need to condition the water as its coming in, or before.

Just throw some aquasafe, or whatever your using in after you do it.

I do not pre treat tap water other than temp.

Your hand is a good enough guage there.

I add Amquel or Prime to the water as I start to fill.

That's it.

In rentals, try and have the tank near a sink/bathroom etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Im lucky here, my living room is north facing so doesnt get hit by sunshine, so when I water change, I just sling the outflow out of the window into the garden. Also, being only 37 gallon, its not much hastle to haul water in from the kitchen. I use those square plastic stacker boxes, each one holds about 5 gallons.

I use a Python hose/siphon system to vacuum out and re-fill the water. No buckets, very handy, money well spent!

I have a digital probe thermometer (from the kitchen) that I use to test the water from the faucet for temps (my hand isn't as finely calibrated as Tom's ).

I just add the water treatment (we sometimes have high levels of chlorine and chloramines so I like to treat for them) as I start to fill the tank like Tom does. The water addition seems to do a good enough job of mixing in the chlorine remover...